Saturday, March 12, 2005

Kanchan Gupta: Needed, moral clarity to see evil

The Pioneer/Oped/08.03.05

Needed, moral clarity to see evil

By Kanchan Gupta

We must "understand a critical difference between the world of fearand the world of freedom," explains Natan Sharansky in his book TheCase for Democracy, a must read for those opposed to tyranny at homeand abroad, "In the former, the primary challenge is finding the innerstrength to confront evil. In the latter, the primary challenge isfinding the moral clarity to see evil."

The shockingly amoral politics of smash and grab witnessed this pastweek, with the Congress brazenly trying to manoeuvre itself into powerafter winning 9 of the 81 seats that constitute the JharkhandLegislative Assembly by making a mockery of constitutional norms, haveno doubt revived memories of the "world of fear" that was India duringMrs Indira Gandhi's ruthless and despotic rule in the dark days ofEmergency.

But 30 years after that summer when Mrs Indira Gandhi stripped Indiansof their fundamental rights to put "democracy back on the rails", MrsSonia Gandhi and her fawning courtiers will find it extremelydifficult, if not impossible, to recreate the terror of 1975-77 whenthe Congress ruled with an iron fist after packing the country's jailswith Opposition leaders, activists and independent journalists.

The "world of freedom", such as it exists in India today, may be underassault from carpet-baggers, but they are unlikely to succeed beyondcausing temporary damage to democratic institutions, even whileinflicting tremendous injury to the Congress and its image which had afortuitous makeover last year after the maudlin renunciation of powerby Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

Living as we do in a "world of freedom", let us then meet "the primarychallenge" of "finding the moral clarity to see evil." In theimmediate context of last week's tumultuous political developments,that evil must necessarily be described as the devious politics of theCongress that appears to have rediscovered what drove Mrs IndiraGandhi in her pursuit of absolute power: the presumed divine right torule even in the absence of a popular mandate.

Hence, last week's forced installation of an illegitimate Governmentin Jharkhand, in which the Congress is a complicit partner, and beforethat the sacking of the BJP Government in Goa and its replacement withan equally illegitimate Congress regime. Pliant Governors eager toprove their loyalty to Mrs Sonia Gandhi were more than happy tosubvert the democratic process of government formation.

Only the naïve would have believed that there would be no backlash andcriticism, if any, would be subsumed by the popularity of Mrs SoniaGandhi: After all, with her halo and larger than life image, who wouldbelieve that she could think evil, leave alone act in an evil manner?In the event, the carefully cultivated image of Mrs Sonia Gandhi – asalso that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who holds office but wieldsneither power nor authority – has failed to carry the day for theCongress.

On the contrary, she is now seen as nothing more than an avaricious,self-aggrandising politician who is willing to go to any extent tograb power. In one swift move, she has taken the Congress back to theera when it was perceived as a destabilising force that would rathersubvert democracy than allow another party to rule – either in theStates or at the Centre.

By sanctioning the appalling abuse of gubernatorial authority inRanchi and Panaji, she has revived memories of the manner in which MrsIndira Gandhi sacked non-Congress State governments in 1980. Later,she used her stooge in the Raj Bhavan at Hyderabad to remove N.T. RamaRao from office; Dr Farooq Abdullah was summarily dismissed andreplaced by G.M. Shah in Srinagar. The destabilising game played byMrs Indira Gandhi in Punjab where she promoted Jarnail SinghBhindranwale as a countervailing force against the Akali Dal extracteda terrible toll, including her life.

All the while, of course, Mrs Indira Gandhi kept on insisting, in theface of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, on her innocence.Memories of Mrs Indira Gandhi's protestations have been revived by thepathetic damage control exercise launched by the gatekeepers of 10,Janpath, one of whom let it be known that "Madam Soniaji" is mightilyunhappy with the turn of events in Ranchi about which, we are nowexpected to believe, she came to know only the day after.

If Mrs Sonia Gandhi's halo no longer sparkles in the spotlight ofpublic adulation, the Congress no longer appears as a reliable ally tothose who joined ranks with it to form the United Progressive AllianceGovernment that, for all practical purposes, does not exist beyond theconfines of Parliament. In Bihar, the three major UPA partners – RJD,LJP and Congress – are at the moment daggers drawn.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK is sulking over an unguarded and consideredstatement made by a local Congress satrap. In Andhra Pradesh, the TRSis straining at the leash. In Maharashtra, the NCP is biding time. Allof a sudden, the carefully constructed alliance that saw the Congress'return to power at the Centre in last year's parliamentary electionseems to be developing deep fissures.

Even within the Congress, the authority of Mrs Sonia Gandhi is not asunassailable as her courtiers would have us believe. The manner inwhich the Chief Minister of Haryana was selected, and the subsequentfallout of that selection, is only indicative of the thinning of MrsSonia Gandhi's authority. In Kerala, Mr K. Karunakaran is leading anopen revolt against the party; in Punjab, Capt. Amarinder Singh hasdemonstrated that he is not answerable to either her or the PrimeMinister.

The Left, meanwhile, finds itself increasingly in a quandary. Lastyear, it chose to back a Congress-led UPA to keep the BJP out ofpower. But in 2006, the Left will find itself fighting the Congress inWest Bengal and Kerala: Given the nature of voter polarisation in boththe States, it has to be a bitter, no holds barred fight if the Leftwants to win and survive.

If the political instability engineered by Mrs Indira Gandhi'sdestabilising politics gave rise to strident anti-Congressism, theinherent instability of the UPA and the destabilising manoeuvres ofMrs Sonia Gandhi and her coterie are gradually resuscitatinganti-Congressism once again, paving the ground for the resurgence ofcompetitive politics which by definition is confrontational andcombative.

Apologists of the Congress have been quick to point out thatconfrontation will work against national interest and affectgovernance. But there are moments in a free nation's life when apacific response to deviousness and worse perpetrated by those inpower is akin to failing to summon "the moral clarity to see evil".

Only moral cowards would acquiesce in the evil perpetrated last week.And moral cowardice is the first step towards losing the "innerstrength to confront evil". If that were to happen, Sharansky's "worldof fear" could yet become a reality for the people of India,notwithstanding the fact that Mrs Sonia Gandhi lacks the chutzpah ofher mother-in-law.